Jan 19 2025

Jan 16 MBA board meeting notes:

• Attendance: All present.

• Will review Nov’s minutes by the Feb meeting.

• Chairperson’s report: Hurricane season is over and we’re now in tourist season. thinking about competition especially in the Caribbean, including cruise lines’ private beach clubs. May need to attract more people through providing transportation, hosting events, etc, while being mindful of the gift entrusted with. Need to have a conversation about how to drive revenue to Lindquist/Smith Bay, which is not performing as was expected, and can’t continue ignoring it.

• Townhall: Want it to be on a weekend so working people can attend, so pushing it forward to February, will be held on a Saturday, not the long weekend, and will try to get notice out at least 2 weeks beforehand.

• General manager’s report: Selecting Korona POS for point of sale software, having also looked at Clover, Square, etc, but they didn’t include migration. Installing lockers for visitors, something one of the vendors had talked about at one point but ended up not doing. New booking system will have more support than current system, will allow people to book sheds directly online rather than just generating email.

• Physical plants & capital construction project: Bathhouse 40% complete, pleased with contractor, etc. Know people have questions about the cost of this public entity [Note: possibly this is referring to a recent facebook post], and expect to educate the public about this in the townhall. Project is federally funded through disaster recovery funds, with MBA expending money and then getting reimbursed, and everything is on schedule.

• Request to host Chili Cook Off: St Thomas Rescue requests May 31 to hold a chili cook-off (this is the event that used to be held by the Texas Society at Brewers). St Thomas Rescue hired Time Capsule Media to plan (Heath George present). MBA will collect entrance fees, with extra cashiers to manage traffic as needed. Considering shuttles from Tutu Park mall & Fort Christian. Could have an option to prepay. Will sell tickets to sample and have both public and judges voting. Unanimous MBA board approval, however needs approval from both GM and concession vendor since selling drinks competes with concession.

• Jetski: The jetski gifted to MBA for beach safety after the Poker Run has arrived, and board will take a photo with it after the meeting. Jetskis are still not allowed at the beach, with the exception of the MBA jetski.

• Mac Davis fitness trail: Ordered cool sail shades to install over the exercise stations so it’s more comfortable to exercise in the heat.

• Vendor topics:

  • P.M. (bar): asked whether the road to enter the beach will be closed during the upcoming M2M - it will remain open so as not to repeat last year’s traffic.

  • E.F. (taxi): introduced himself and requested to meet with the General Manager.

  • H.L.F. (watersports): gave update on operations, 50% discount for locals, getting good feedback from customers, working on advertising next, MBA suggested attending Seatrade.

• Other audience topics:

  • Roger M.: Requested response in writing to inquiry about MBA’s legal authority to restrict parking at Drake’s Seat, suggesting that MBA would want to discuss with legal counsel first. R.M. explained he has been visiting Drake’s Seat for 49 years, goes often as it’s his happy place, maintains he is going for pleasure only. Was recently told not to park in a spot for more than 1 hour, and then subsequently was told that 15-minute parking signs were forthcoming. Extensive back-and-forth ensued including:

    • MBA said he was there for excessive amounts of time, many days and sometimes as much as 8 hours a day, and that MBA had heard he had been soliciting. Justin W., who had spoken to R.M. after conferring with the General Manager, said that he didn’t have a problem with R.M. spending the time at Drake’s Seat, but that he asked him to park elsewhere - on the perimeter rather than one of the middle spots, which made it harder for the safaris to pull in and out, which R.M. initially agreed to, but then came back responding that it was open to the public.

    • R.M. stated that he thinks it is discriminatory to say that taxis/safaris have priority over private individuals. He said he did move when explicitly asked, and had a copy of the deed and restrictions and didn’t see anything illegal about what he was doing and didn’t see anything in the law giving MBA the power to restrict him. [Note: The friendsmagens site includes copies of the original Fairchild deed and information about MBA’s powers.] 

    • MBA responded that they have the authority to direct within the deeded properties, including Drake’s Seat. [Note: I am not a lawyer, but V.I. Code tit. 32, § 58 (2019) seems relevant.] Involving legal counsel is not a win for anyone.They are asking that he understand that they want people to come and enjoy Drake’s Seat, and the VI GDP depends on tourism, but there’s limited parking so they can’t have spaces tied up all day. He can park there for long periods when traffic is light, but don’t stay when it’s crowded, look at the cruise ship schedule to plan. They shouldn’t have to continually ask him to move.

  • Joanne S.: Recall past discussion of some individuals reserving the sheds for recurring events, which prevented others from using the sheds. Will the new shed booking system handle this situation? Good question, need to look into it. Current policy is something like no more than 4 bookings per year.

  • Sara S. There were Fairchild Day events for a couple of years. Is this something that will be done again? Tried for two years, but attendance wasn’t what we’d hoped. Possibly due to the timing just after Christmas, so might try again at another time, especially with more VIers visiting [which I guess could be Carnival?], but nothing currently planned.

• Election of officers: Before the election, there was a unanimous vote to amend the bylaws to change offices to 3-year terms [they were previously 1-year terms I believe]. Then proposals and unanimous elections as follows:

  • Chair: Barbara Peterson

  • Vice chair: Robert Moron

  • Treasurer: Cecile deJongh

  • Secretary: Alani A. Henneman